Yes, it was quite frosty here, too (east Kent). Some of my plants looked a little droopy. I hope they'll recover okay for spring, at least. My million bells are still holding up; I was surprised that they perked up again! Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked.
I think I'm going to put a light mulch on some of the more tender plants, just to be sure.

I didn't think it got that cold here last night, but then I saw ice in the grass. Then I got a look at my poor tomato plants. which look quite blasted. I will have to pick all the green tomatoes and bring in my houseplants which were protected on the front porch. I was hoping it would be a little longer before frosts.

We got a hard frost here in the Puyallup valley last night. All my Begonia grandis turned to mush. It really is early, I think it was the end of November last year before everything froze. Those trick or treaters better bundle up tomorrow as it is going to be cold again. Karen

Yep I was rather surprised to wake up to 8 huge brugmansias limp as can be, since they were all in full bloom when I went to bed. I cut them down today, so hard to do when each plant had around 50 or more blooms or buds on them. I ended up with six five gallon buckets full of 1-3 foot cuttings. I had to resort to using a hacksaw this year, pruners just couldn't cut it.Even my callas got zapped. They usually can take quite a few cold weeks before turning to mush.
If anyone wants a brug cutting and can come to my place in Richmond Beach to pick it up, your welcome.

I always hate the first hard frost. It feels so final.

Yes, I was glad that I got a few of my tender plants inside before this frost hit. Perhaps we will have a proper winter this year. It's been a long time. My poor brugs are looking very unhappy - hope I'm not too late to take cuttings.

I'm not sure we should be so surprised that we have been hit with the first frost of the season. Depending on source, the average first frost for Seattle ranges from 10/27 to 11/11 and "average" implies that this date could be significantly earlier or later.

I think we have been lulled into a bit more complacency this season due to a long, very warm summer and perhaps the best fall weather we have experienced in a good many years. Personally, I am rather glad that colder temperatures have finally brought a halt to the growing season so I can now get some much needed clean up work done without it all reappearing again in another week.

Brrr, frost - is right. It's still a nippy 28o here this morning at almost 8:30. Does anyone know if the cold will take care of the aphids I can see on new camellia growth right outside my office window, or do I still need to address those?

I did go out just before dinner last night and move a potted fuchsia magellanica in full bloom into my carport - I've been wanting to plant it at my brothers in Portland and haven't had a chance. And slipped a clear drum liner over a plant stand on my deck that contains seedlings of melianthus, meconopsis, darmera, sarcococca...Seemed like it's been a little warm to suddenly thrust them into their first ever hard frost.

I dragged big pots off the deck and into the greenhouse late (11 PM) on Sunday night when it became clear that it was dropping really fast. We had a hard freeze (about 27/28). No time to rescue the last tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Last night one station predicted it could get down to 23 last night so I went back out around 11 and plugged in all of the barn and outside water heat tapes...it was already below freezing but it was a balmy 35 this AM....oh, well better safe than sorry! jwww

To Katel8Washington,
I sent you an E-mail. Am interested in your brugmansia cuttings. Thank you Tita

Yup, same here: frost the last two nights. I took cuttings of coleus and fancy-leaf types of zonal geraniums and I'm glad I did as the parent plants don't look too happy right now.

Honestly, I'm happy to see it as it should help cut down on pests and certainly mosquitoes. I've been reading a couple of great winter-gardening books (okay, re-re-reading one of them but they're written for this and similar climates) which always put me in the mood for winter, and they remind me to plan ahead for interest in the garden for the long cool winter.

Still, I guess I'll be spending plenty of time this weekend cleaning up melted foliage and blooms though. I also now know who will win the race: flower buds on my Salvia gesneriflora vs. Frost (the frost won).

I did change out my huge windowboxes this weeekend to winter plants, so the timing was good. The one I didn't get to is a mess, but I'll get on it this weekend.

Keep the weather reports coming. My min-max thermometer says 23 degrees F last night, pretty chilly for two blocks from the sound and not very elevated either.

Happy gardening,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosemary Verey's 'Garden in Winter' book

Depends where you live on our island. Most areas here on SSI escaped frost. Down in the lower hollows and valleys got nailed. Where I live it was patchy and light, but not enough to destroy even my most tender annuals or exotics. Bananas & Gingers are flawless. Coldest temp. I recorded this morning was -0.2 C. (31.6 F.) Should warm up and rain by late week. Joe

A balmy 21 on the prairie in SE Olympia at 7 this morning, 26 now at 10:30 pm.

Now that temps have warmed up again I can see the only real damage was to impatiens and some coleus. The Musa basjoo (fiber banana) foliage still looks good and I'm happy to report the Salvia gesneriflora looks untouched. We'll see for how long though.

Happy gardening everyone,
Grant

Halloween's not at all early for first killing frost. About what I expect. I remember one Halloween just a few years ago I was racing around frantically in the dark to winterize my irrigation system as tempeartures plummeted from a daytime high in the 60s to nighttime lows in the mid twenties. No time to worry about the plants, save that irrigation system! I could feel the ground freezing underfoot as I went around the garden.

I have a much smaller yard now, and no irrigation system, so winterizing that took a couple of hours before can all be done in about 15 minutes now. Although I do still have to move the bonsai to their sheltered spots, it hasn't been cold enough yet to bother with that. That'll take all of another 15 minutes.

First frosts in Olympia can be as early as late September, but usually not a killing frost til October. Or as late as December.

I was planning on whacking down all the blasted dahlias this weekend too, but there's no reason to go out in that storm ... Here's the weather report as heard on KZOK late last night:

Rain today. More rain Saturday. Sunday, even more rain. Monday, for a change of pace, pouring down rain. Tuesday, well let's just say it'll stop raining some time about mid July.

Gotta love it or you'll go crazy.

KZOK? Keep rockin', girl!

Reg, I clearly remember the Halloween you mention - I moved several things, protected others, but I had noble fir seedlings in a seed flat on my deck that I assumed were fine exposed to cold, they weren't and the tips burned back.

So far today I've picked up a turned over 24" planter on my front porch twice (no more styro no matter how much they look like fired clay!) gone to the post office, checked to make sure downspouts are all functioning. Anything else outside can fend for itself, we're getting slammed with wind/rain on the coast. Next chore is that mess in the basement, where it's so much easier just to take things down and sit them on the floor 'to organize and put away later'....I think it's later, and I don't trust my basement to stay dry with tomorrow nights forecast :(

I'd rather be gardening. And the styro planter - It has a huge clump of saruma in it that isn't showing any signs of going dormant yet and it's acting like a sail. I may go out and cut it back prematurely....

For some reason, I didn't check the weather forecast last week and... uh... well... uh... nothing got brought in. I lost a $10 columnar varigated basil which was frankly the coolest plant of all time and also an enormous splurge. I'd planned to feast on pesto all winter. Now, all I have is the blasted remains of my basil staring back at me. Grrr.

The constant rain today kept me inside and FORCED me to clean and organize the total gridlocked chaos in my "greenhouse" which is a south facing glass front area under our deck augmented by grow lights. This greenhouse is an 8' x24' area off my daylight basement and after starting tons of veggies and perennials from seed in the spring, mostly ignoring it except for a few cuttings, then dragging my big pots back in, it was a total disaster....probably like Morz8's basement. Why is it that I can work hard outside all day and feel good but tired and a day of working more or less inside has my shoulders up around my ears and lots of body pain??????? Oh, well, I'm really glad the greenhouse is clean and ready for the next batch of seedlings and also glad that last weekend I got the new stuff I brought back from Gossler's and NW Garden Nursery into the ground. jwww

I was out of town, but my lowest temperature last week, west of Poulsbo was 24F.

We also had hard frosts around the end of October in 2002 and 2003. In the 2002 frost, Olympia (the airport) set its all time October low of 14F. Prior to 2002, it seemed like our first killing frost usually waited until November or sometimes even December.

I like the styrafoam planters, the fake clay ones, because they insulate roots so hardy plants can stay out all winter without the roots freezing. But yes they are lightweight which is both a blessing and a curse ... I have a very tall hinoki gracilis in one and it has to be tied to the fence to stay upright in even the slightest wind. I have put large rocks in the bottoms of these pots sometimes when potting things that don't need the whole space for their roots, just to make them less tippy.

That Halloween freeze that sent me scrambling must have been either 2000 or 2001, because I remember what job I had at the time that kept me out of the garden until after dark every day. And I knew I was procrastinating on the winterizing. By 2002 I was elsewhere jobwise but we had a few years of late October freezes.